There is a need for mobile payment systems that do not involve Radio Frequency (RF) communication between the parties that request and provide the authentication tokens. Mobile payment systems involving RF communication are more expensive and more difficult in implementation. Such systems require introduction of expensive hardware at Point-of-Sale and also in the hands of the consumers,
The new mobile payment systems must work with existing, deployed hardware without the need to introduce new expensive hardware.
Mobile payment systems must preserve or improve the security of existing payment methods. The credit card or bank card information must not be available to any untrusted paths. Such information must be sent only to trusted backend systems.
Another objective for the system is to be more eco-friendly by reducing the amount of paper required to complete a transaction as compared to paper-based transaction mechanisms.